


haze

by advancingambition



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Childhood Memories, F/F, Fruit, Oneshot, yearning but they dont know it yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27738139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/advancingambition/pseuds/advancingambition
Summary: Vinem oneshot featuring childhood friends and summer fruit.
Relationships: Emira Blight/Viney
Comments: 2
Kudos: 33





	haze

**Author's Note:**

> ale bby this is for u

When Emira thought of her childhood, the most prominent memories were those that featured Viney. 

They had met when they were both put into the same first grade class. They would sit together at lunch, and Viney would peel Emira’s oranges for her. Though Viney had small hands still soft with baby fat, she had patience, even then, that Emira didn’t, and so she would work her fingers between the thick peel and the soft flesh of the fruit, while Emira would watch in wonder. It became a sort of ritual for them. Emira would bring out her lunch, Viney would peel her oranges for her, and then Emira and Viney would share their lunches, laughing and talking and sitting together in companionable silence. Emira enjoyed sitting with Viney, she enjoyed the way Viney laughed at her pranks and didn’t shy back from her teasing. 

Emira remembers, distantly, how one year in third grade the teachers had taken them out for a day-long field trip in the woods. It had been summer, and the air had hung thick and hot around then like the moist breath of some great beast. The forest had been dense with ancient trees, and when the girls listened closely they could hear the magic buzz in the air along with the insects. The sun had shone through the great canopy of leaves overhead, and even under the shade of the trees it was almost unbearably hot. They had run around, chasing dragonflies as they caught the motes of light in the air until they were near boneless with heat. So, warm with the heat of the day and heat of activity, Emira and Viney had both taken off the hood of their uniforms, and had rolled up the sleeves of their gray tunics. Emira remembers how silly Viney had looked, red faced and sweaty in her disheveled tunic, face surrounded by the flyaway hairs that had escaped her bun. They had run around, played tag, and ignored the warnings of the teacher until they were out of earshot. 

The girls had walked through the woods, hand in hand, until they came upon an orange tree. Emira’d stood up a little straighter, wiping off the sweat from her face with the back of her hand. Right there, on one of the lowest branches, was an orange. She didn’t know why, at the time, but she had to have it. So Emira had winked at Viney, tugging her hand out of Viney’s own, and bound to the tree. She stared up at it for several minutes, pushed up her sleeves where they were slowly creeping down her arms, and started climbing. She had climbed the trees by her family’s home with her brother for many years, so surely, Emira had thought to herself, this wouldn’t be too much of a challenge. 

Except what Emira had failed to consider, in the heat-addled mess of her brain, was that the trees by her home were much, much, smaller than the tree here. Emira had climbed until she saw the branch with the orange on it. She had slowly brought her legs onto the limb, one after the other, and heedless of Viney’s shouted warnings below, slowly made her way to where the orange hung, vibrant and tempting among the waxy green leaves. When Emira was halfway down the branch, she had reached out towards the fruit, straining with her whole body to grab it, but just as her fingers had closed around it, Emira lost her balance, and plummeted towards the ground below. 

Emira remembers the rustling of leaves, and the snapping of branches as gravity had taken her through them. She remembers hitting the ground, how it had knocked the breath out of her lungs and brought tears to her eyes, how her palms had stung and where she’d stuck them out to break her fall. But Emira also remembered how Viney had run over to her, rapid footfalls stirring up dust clouds in the earth, and how her soft hands had turned Emira over, and cupped her face in worry, gentleness of concern breaking through youth, just momentarily.

“‘Mira?” Viney had asked, voice wobbling just so slightly, right hand brushing the sweaty hair from Emira’s forehead where it had escaped her braid. Emira had groaned, still struggling to catch her breath. She scrunched her nose, and then, determined to save face, raised her left hand to Viney’s field of vision. 

In Emira’s hand, scuffed from the fall but still perfect, was the orange. Emira opened her eyes, blushing from the weight of Viney’s hands on her face, and asked, faux-smugly; 

“Hungry?” 

Viney had huffed, pulling Emira up to sit in the grass. Emira winced when Viney took the fruit from her hand, resisting the urge to whine when the tender flesh of her scrapes were irritated. Viney had frowned, and then taken Emira’s hand in her own. Emira had been confused, but when warmth bled from Viney’s hands into Emira’s own and the scrapes slowly scabbed over and stopped stinging, Emira was shocked. Viney hummed, a small frown forming on her face from concentration until Emira’s hands had been adequately healed, or at least healed to the best of Viney’s ability. Viney had sat back on her heels, bleary from the magical exertion. Emira laughed, amazed, and tackled Viney in a hug. Emira pressed a kiss to Viney’s cheek before she released her, flopping to the grass beside her. 

“So,” asked Emira, batting her dark green eyelashes at Viney. “Will you peel it for me?” 

Viney had sighed, exasperated, but there was really no protest in the expression. “Of course, stupid.” 

And so Emira gave Viney the orange that she had gone through so much trouble to get, watching contentedly as Viney took it, working her nail under the peel, near where the stem had been moments ago. Emira closed her eyes, leaning her head on Viney’s shoulder. She could hear the quiet tear of the peel as Viney slowly separated the thick skin from the flesh of the orange. Above the salty smell of sweat and the warm scent of the woods, Emira could smell the sharp scent of the fruit’s oil, released as the peel was torn. Emira knew that if she opened her eyes, the orange would be in two pieces; the fruit and the peel, in one perfect mass, separated by patient hands but still otherwise whole. She heard Viney separate the fruit in halves, and sighed. She handed Emira half and kept the other, and the two ate their respective parts in silence, content to let the breeze that had managed to pass the branches overhead cool them down. 

Tired and full, Viney and Emira lay in the grass, afternoon light catching on their faces, and let the breeze and the birdsong and the call of crows lull them to sleep. They would be in trouble when the teachers found them, but for that moment they had been content to relax, just the two of them and the satisfying weariness of a long day.

**Author's Note:**

> not at all what i set out to write but? it works


End file.
